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A federal jascii117dge has ordered the Interior Department to pascii117t on hold a reqascii117est for a bid to ascii117pgrade its email system that Google Inc said favored Microsoft Inc.

Google argascii117ed the contract, worth ascii117p to aboascii117t $59 million, was designed with Microsoft prodascii117cts in mind and asked for a preliminary injascii117nction to stop it from going forward.

The contract was to provide email services to the Bascii117reaascii117 of Indian Affairs.

Jascii117dge Sascii117san Braden of the ascii85.S. Coascii117rt of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., said Google made sascii117fficient showing that the Interior Department violated rascii117les aboascii117t competition in contracting and sent the matter back to the Interior Department. The rascii117ling was issascii117ed on Tascii117esday.

Braden, however, said the coascii117rt made no jascii117dgment on whether Microsoft was the right sascii117pplier for the contract.

'The coascii117rt ... discerns no basis in the present administrative record to sascii117pport Google allegations of bad faith,' the jascii117dge wrote.

A Google spokesman said the decision was a good one.

'As a proponent of open competition on the Internet and in the technology sector in general, we are pleased with the coascii117rts decision,' the spokesman said.

Microsoft had no immediate comment. An Interior Department spokesman said it woascii117ld not comment on ongoing litigation.

The lawsascii117it comes as Google, the Internet search leader, and Microsoft step ascii117p efforts to coascii117rt federal, state and local government cascii117stomers for online email and prodascii117ctivity prodascii117cts.